So how did the "tea party" in Searchlight go? Well, they certainly brought in a big crowd... But it wasn't the 10,000 organizers had originally hoped for, and nowhere near the 20,000 they were claiming yesterday (more like 7-8,000). The big draw for their event was really Sarah Palin, as she got most of the attention and the biggest crowds. Multiple reports so far confirm that after Palin left the stage (and before most of the Nevada GOP candidates were set to speak), the crowds started emptying the valley they were occupying. When I was with the pro-Reid rally in town, about 90% of the cars heading to the "tea party" rally were from out of state (with, again, the bulk of those being California and Arizona righties). And when our shuttle was leaving town on the way back up to Vegas, about 80% of the cars parked along and near Highway 95 for the "tea party" rally were from out of state.

Basically, a few big money corporate lobby groups bankrolled it and led "caravans" of out of state teabaggers into Searchlight.

In July, we ripped open the thin veneer of "grassroots enthusiasm" to uncover who was really behind Sharron Angle's meteoric rise to political superstardom. Behind the "blue collar" looking "tea party activists" with their misspelled signs and ragtag "rallies", a slick group of California Republican operatives were pulling the strings for (and OF, for that matter!) Sharron Angle the whole damned time.

So they lied about Bush's war in Iraq, they lied about what they actually saw there, they lied their way into the California Recall [special election in 2003] that saddled that state with "Arnold", and now they're lying about what their little "tea party" is really up to.

Oh, and now they're trying to dupe us into believ[ing] Harry Reid is some sort of "Satan Incarnate" and Sharrontology is our only way to salvation. But when we look behind the curtain, we have to notice the corporate fat cats funding the "Tea Party, Inc." gravy train supporting Sharrontology.

They may claim to be "helping the grassroots defeat Harry Reid", but what Sal Russo and his band of corporate funded California Republican PR operatives, along with their high profile national cheerleaders like Sarah Palin, are really up to is a national campaign to replace Democrats like Harry Reid who can think for themselves and help working families in their states with corporate tools like Sharron Angle who will do as they say, NOT as we Nevadans would like.

So was it really that much of a surprise that, in the wake of "Barter-gate", Sue Lowden's campaign imploded when forced to go against "Tea Party, Inc."?

And the teabaggers were cheering her on the whole entire way. No matter what she said or what she did, she was their "angel" and Harry Reid was some variation of "devil". It didn't matter what facts got in the way...